Why Pope Leo was legally allowed to vote in US election despite being leader of Vatican City
WASHINGTON — Pope Leo XIV has voted in the midterm elections despite serving as the head of a foreign country — but don’t bother trying to claim President Trump’s new $1 million voter fraud bounty.Leo, 71, was born Robert Francis Prevost in Chicago on Sept.14, 1955, and online Illinois records reviewed by The Post show that he’s registered to vote at his older brother John’s address in suburban New Lenox.“He’s an American citizen living abroad.
He didn’t lose his voting rights when he moved to the Vatican,” said Richard Hasen, a voting rights expert at the UCLA School of Law.The Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act of 1986 lays out the process for Americans living outside US borders.That law requires states to allow “overseas voters to use absentee registration procedures and to vote by absentee ballot.”Overseas voters must cast ballots for offices “in the last place in which the person was domiciled before leaving the United States.”Vatican City has been recognized as an independent state since 1929, and functions as an absolute monarchy without political elections.Unlike other nations, which mainly grant citizenship based on where or to whom a person was born, Vatican City grants citizenship by application — and only the pope holds the privilege for life.Leo also holds American and Peruvian citizenship, and the Chicago Sun-Times reported that he requested a mail-in ballot from the Will County clerk’s office Oct.
3, ten days before undergoing surgery to remove a cancerous tumor from his right lung.It is unclear when the ballot was returned, but the Vatican press office confirmed Friday that Leo had a “belief in the right and the duty of citizens to participate in democratic processes.”“Pope Leo XIV has exercised his right to vote as a United States citizen, whenever he was eligible to do so,” the statement said.“In keeping with this long-standing practice of civic participation, he has submitted his mail...